Wow, what a wonderful day! What a wonderful life! I can't begin to express how blessed I am. Every day I'm humbled by the incredible riches with which I've been blessed- a wonderful family that loves me, tons of friends, a comfortable home, no lack of food to eat and warm clothes to wear. Sometimes I just sit, too small to move- why should I be so blessed when there are so many people who have nothing at all? What thing did I do that made me worthy to receive life when others eat nothing but bitterness and suffering until their short days on earth come to an end? Nothing, I have done nothing at all to deserve all of this grace. I only hope somehow, in some small way to be able to share goodness and life and warmth and love with those from whom such things have fled.
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Tonight our home was filled with friends and family from all over the world. We celebrated our hope of eternal life with food and songs and prayers. But if we fail to extend the love that we've received- what good are we? If we spend all these gifts on our own comforts- what have we gained? Life is so short and suffering in the world is so great, how could we live in our own skins if we didn't attempt to share the riches that we've received? And yet, what is harder than to convince our own selfish flesh to give up comfort, even though it be for the worthiest of ends? As Thoreau said when commenting on men's possessions possessing men, "the bad neighborhood to be avoided is our own scurvy selves."
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On Saturday we will be hanging out at the home for orphans and castaways and the mentally ill. Adjacent is a home for the elderly. Some of them can't even talk, can't cry out for the most basic human needs. No one cares about them. In fact- most are there because they aren't wanted by their own families. I hope that during a few moments with these precious people we'll somehow be able to communicate love and kindness. I also hope that this one day will not be the exception in our lives, but something as common as breathing in and breathing out. Our gifts, our blessings, were not meant to be held on to, but to be exhaled, passed on freely and readily as we received them.
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Tonight our home was filled with friends and family from all over the world. We celebrated our hope of eternal life with food and songs and prayers. But if we fail to extend the love that we've received- what good are we? If we spend all these gifts on our own comforts- what have we gained? Life is so short and suffering in the world is so great, how could we live in our own skins if we didn't attempt to share the riches that we've received? And yet, what is harder than to convince our own selfish flesh to give up comfort, even though it be for the worthiest of ends? As Thoreau said when commenting on men's possessions possessing men, "the bad neighborhood to be avoided is our own scurvy selves."
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On Saturday we will be hanging out at the home for orphans and castaways and the mentally ill. Adjacent is a home for the elderly. Some of them can't even talk, can't cry out for the most basic human needs. No one cares about them. In fact- most are there because they aren't wanted by their own families. I hope that during a few moments with these precious people we'll somehow be able to communicate love and kindness. I also hope that this one day will not be the exception in our lives, but something as common as breathing in and breathing out. Our gifts, our blessings, were not meant to be held on to, but to be exhaled, passed on freely and readily as we received them.
